(Minghui.org) More than 1,000 Falun Dafa practitioners from Europe and around the world attended the European Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference in London on August 31. They participated in activities at tourists sites in the city, as well as the Chinese Embassy, from August 29 to September 1.

Falun Dafa practitioners follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. They hope that more people recognize the benefits of Falun Dafa by seeing how they changed after they picked up the spiritual practice.

Practitioner of UK: Falun Dafa Helped Me Quit Smoking and Drinking

Carina Depelean (middle) is clarifying the truth to two tourists about Falun Dafa and the persecution in China.

Carina Depelean, a real estate assistant from London, started practicing Falun Dafa three-and-a-half years ago and became a diligent practitioner one year later.

Originally from Moldova, she had been looking for a spiritual belief that can be practiced in day to day life.

She said, “I earnestly searched for a spiritual belief for years until I read Zhuan Falun for the first time, and I realized that this is what I was looking for.”

Guided by the Falun Dafa principles, Carina stopped smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, two habits she picked up in college, about one year after she started practicing Falun Dafa.

She continued, “I used to be short-tempered. I couldn't tolerate criticism, and often felt I was being treated unfairly. Now, I have become more compassionate and tolerant.”

Her mother and sister also noticed. “We used to argue with each other a lot. Now they notice that I am kinder and more tolerant.”

Talking about the purpose of participating in truth-clarification activities, she expressed her wish that more Chinese people would recognize the lies the Communist Party spreads about Falun Dafa. She added, “I hope more people can experience the benefits of Falun Dafa.”

Polish Practitioner: Falun Dafa Changed Me Into a More Responsible Person

Tomek Kowalski is a member of the Falun Dafa dragon dance team

Tomek Kowalski, a Polish businessman, said that Falun Dafa helped him find the meaning of life.

“I wanted to be a good person when I was young,” he said. “However, when I became a teen, I decided that being a good person wouldn't benefit me much, so I couldn't see the point. But after I read Zhuan Falun, I understood that being a good person itself is a reward, and there is a profound reason behind it. Thus, I decided to be a truly good person.”

He became more responsible and more considerate. He and his wife, also a practitioner, have three children. “We use 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance' to deal with any problem. My parents saw the changes in me, too.”

Romanian Practitioner: Cultivating Falun Dafa to Correct Thoughts and Behavior

Andreuw from Romania

A group of Falun Dafa practitioners were demonstrating the Dafa exercises at Trafalgar Square on September 1. Andreuw, a Romanian practitioner, was talking to tourists, passing out fliers, introducing Falun Dafa, and exposing the brutal persecution against this cultivation practice in China.

He is a military man and also an instructor at a military school. He first heard of Falun Dafa at a Latin dancing class. Later a friend invited him to a Falun Dafa practice site.

“After seeing how they exercise,” he said, “I wanted to know more about it. I began to read Zhuan Falun a couple of days later.” That was the beginning of his cultivation path.

Before he decided to practice Dafa he was puzzled by a strange illness symptom--an erratic heartbeat, which only happened after he treated cadets unfairly and harshly, especially female cadets.

The book Zhuan Falun gave him the explanation. “It happened the first time,” he said, “and I didn't quite get it. It happened the second time, then the third time. I then realized that I was doing something wrong. This is my understanding.”

After he understood the reason for experiencing the illness symptom, he corrected his wrongdoings by apologizing to these cadets who he still was in contact with.

Cultivation and the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance changed his temperament. He was no longer like a stick of dynamite ready to explode.

His students are about 20 years old, and most of them have not yet realized what life is all about. Equipped with the compassion derived from practicing Falun Dafa, Andreuw teaches them to do things wholeheartedly, instead of coercing them and making them fearful. He also encouraged them to speak the truth and does not retaliate if people mock him.

A friend saw the changes in him and asked why he was acting so “dumb” and didn't fight back when someone mocked him. He explained the principles of Falun Dafa to this friend.

Days later, the friend told him a story. It happened on a day when Andreuw had taken a day off. Some people began to speak ill of him behind his back. His friend heard it and wanted to confront them. But he remembered what Andreuw had explained to him about Falun Dafa and thought, “Andreuw would say, 'Let them be and don't bother.'” So a confrontation was avoided.

The friend's story touched his heart and also encouraged him to continue his cultivation. He said, “I will follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and be a better person.”